


A Chance

by bonnie_wee_swordsman



Series: Various Tumblr Prompts [6]
Category: Outlander & Related Fandoms, Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Gen, Oneshot, Show Spoilers, missing moment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-12
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-12-26 17:36:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12063792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bonnie_wee_swordsman/pseuds/bonnie_wee_swordsman
Summary: (Spoilers for Outlander Episode 3x01)It made me REALLY conflicted/feelsy to think about the fact that show!Frank got to meet Brianna before Claire did. Not the way I would have written it, I think, but it admittedly was worth it for the sake of those deliciously angsty Faith parallelsStill....What would Frank have thought and done and said in those first moments alone with baby Brianna, just the two of them?





	A Chance

 

“ _Here_  she is, Mr. Randall,” the nurse sang out, laying the blanket-wrapped bundle into his arms before he was the least bit prepared. He’d scarcely ever held a baby in his  _life_ –and now he was—What ought he to—How—

“I’ll leave you two alone to get to know each other a bit,” the nurse said cheerily, oblivious to his panic as she closed the door behind her. 

The rain pattered on the windowsill. Somewhere in the room, a clock ticked. Frank could only stare down into the tiny, sleeping face, serene and new and perfect.

For months, this had been ‘the child’, Claire’s child,  _that man’s_ child;  literal living proof of everything that had broken between him and Claire since 1946, of how he himself had not been enough. Now, though... What was this being in his arms, now?

_A child without a father_

No one could have been more shocked than he at that stab of pity through his heart at the thought, at the  _God give him peace_ that crossed his silent lips before darker thoughts prevailed. Still, it wasn’t anger in his heart—it wasn’t resentment. No, the moment Claire had gone into labor, such pettiness had vanished, at least for the present. Now _, today,_  his hands were shaking from one simple, pitiful fear: that this child could not love him. 

“Will you miss him, one day?” His voice broke. “Will you know, somehow, in your heart? That I’m—” He closed his eyes and swallowed a sob.  _“—that I’m not the one that matter_ s?” 

He wasn’t. He wouldn’t ever be. Not to Claire. What kind of family could it be, with him in it; with him, instead of the man they both should have had?

Despair seemed poised to drag him back into that solitary darkness, the gloom that had marked these last six months. Then, the reverend’s voice once more pierced through the raging silence of his mind: 

_A child without a father,_ _and a man without a child have been given this chance to find one another._

A chance. 

He was being given a chance. 

“I’m honored....” he whispered slowly, lifting a shaking hand out toward her, “....that you found  _me_.” 

Tentatively, he slipped his fingers under her head, gingerly cupping it in his palm. She stiffened at his touch, and he tried to jerk his hand away, terrified that he’d hurt or scared her.  _I’m sorry...I’m so sorry._

One single moment more, though, was all it took for Frank Randall to go completely breathless: the moment when his daughter nuzzled her face closer into his hand and something fell into place in his soul. 

“No matter what, sweetheart...” Tears rolled freely down his cheek as he pressed his lips against her forehead “...you will always,  _always_  matter to me.” 

* * *

 

 

  


 


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